Box of stuff, or experience?

Okay, after impulsively seizing a plot of land that matched what I want (4096 all water, mature plot), I've been spending the last few days feverishly building my new store. Now, what my store is called or sells I won't say; this isn't an advertisement (and it isn't open yet anyway).

I've had the design for my store nailed down for a while, I actually constructed the shell quickly from a scale model I had done earlier, making adjustments as required. But as I've been building it I've spent a ton of time on little silly features. For example; I've got lights that come on at night and change colour (separate from lights required to see), water with splashes, and a sun-dial whose shadow rotates with the sun. These have accumulated a fairly large chunk of hours wasted on these (and other) things which aren't really necessary to a store.

It was here that I looked at my store and though to myself; holy crap, what am I actually building here? It occurs to me, the bulk of stores out there (including many popular ones) are just big boxes with a ton of stuff in them, rarely laid out with any logic. Many are crammed with stuff and not particularly fun places to be; you arrive, you buy what you came for (maybe browsing a little first if you're not sure) then go. Few of these places offer any incentive to linger beyond camping chairs.

What I've done however is build a place that I enjoy wandering around, the kind of place I'd like to explore, with little details here and there to find. So my question to you, as store owners or customers; what do you like when shopping? Are you JUST out to get stuff, or do enjoy a nice experience?

My store is a 100m tall, curved tower rising out of the ocean, with a small pier out front, and balcony at the top. Falling down the centre is a huge waterfall that falls down around the elevator. Also added are some baths where people can float around and chat. Oh, and there are vendors somewhere too

more builds should be fun, very good, carry on.

I enjoy browsing around unusual or pretty builds while shopping. However, I usually find those rare places by some sort of search. I searched for a specific thing that I either wanted to buy or see so when I arrive at a pretty or interesting place I'm generally pleased.......but when it comes time to look for what I came for I want to be able to find it. Often, I can never find what I was looking for, so after a stroll looking for the thing(s) I came for, noting the interesting build, I usually tp off the the next seach result I have on my search box......and almost never landmark the place.

Please, put some signs up to direct us to where what we want can be found......then let us browse the interesting, pretty stuff stuff.

I definitely appreciate the unique build experience when I'm shopping. I will linger longer in a place that is interesting....appealing in some form....whether it's a giant space station or quaint plaza design. I hate boxy malls and cookie cutter vender spces. Even the small shops, if they have some kind of personality...are worth a longer stay.

So yes....do carry on....looks like a place I'd love to explore~!

I like a place that holds my interest, but as long as the products are easily to find, easily viewed and you can navigate the place easily.

Breaking up a store into sections is a good thing and will help prevent the grey vendor box syndrome of many other places as your viewer tries to download hundreds of textures at once.

I liked the design of what you showed us - my only concern is stairs, I hate them...they take up for too much space, often constrain the camera and generally make getting up them hard...tps are the way to go in my opinion. If you a really attached to stairs...go to ramps instead, smaller avs can have problems with big steps.

Looks lovely so far to me also. But I do agree with the comment about the stairs. I'm a rather small Av and they can be rather tricky for me. Ramps are a lot better. I wind up flying in many stores instead of using the steps, if there isn't a teleport available.

Also, since the store is rather tall, having a signs on each floor someplace indicating where items throughout the store would be helpful. I don't mind shopping in large environments as long as I can find what I need easily. Sometimes browsing aimlessly is fun but most times I want to be able to come in and find what I need quicky.

Overall it looks wonderful, upscale and a place which would pull me in to see what was inside.

Agreed with the above. The more interesting the building, the longer I'll stay and poke around.

"what do you like when shopping? Are you JUST out to get stuff, or do enjoy a nice experience?"

As a shopper I seem to be in the minority, the more simple the store the more apt I am to shop and spend money there.

fancy buildings with lots of levels frustrate me, especially when SL is acting wonky, which seems to be a lot lately

the build looks interesting, but if I were to TP into something like that when visiting a store, I would most likely TP right back out (unless I wanted the item I was searching for, very very badly and could not find it elsewhere)

I like exploring unique builds, but not when I am shopping

as a store owner, I tend to go for a clean look, easy navigation, and some uniqueness as well, something that says... "I like it here, I think I will come back"
(speaking of which, I just once again made changes to my store LOL)
so be prepared, chances are you will always be tweaking it (for anyone who has known me and my store since opening knows how many changes I have gone though hehe.)

my store started out as a square in a free yardsale space, then got my own land, built a little 512 size store, then ripped it down, got a prefab, ripped it down, built another, ripped it down, built a club, had the store as part of that, ripped that down, built yet another... you get the picture hehe (now I have a store, arcade and fish pond, as well as my home (all in the same land I started out with back in sept 06)

anywho... good luck with it all, be prepared for lots of change, and tweaking, and do not expect everyone to like it, and most of all, do what you like to make you happy, the rest will hopefully fall into place

edited to add you did not hide the store name very well

renara.com store hehe

Being new to SL, less than a week at that, I was already thinking about this as I visited shops and such about how many there are that just absolutely SUCK. There are those that stand out and because of that have done all my shopping in them.

DEFINITELY go all out and make an enjoyable experience. Everyone else has the whole "Square boxes crammed with inventory" covered.

I'm thinking what might happen is that people will be walking around enjoying the place but won't buy a thing because they won't be able to find your products. Make it very clear where yoiur products are and don't make it a long walk to get there. Maybe make your store landmark point directly to the goods and allow them to wander from there.

I often assume that the effort that went into the presentation of the products reflects in the potential quality of the products.

When I shop, I'm mostly only interested in the product and not the build or decor of the area, especially since sometimes everything takes so long to rez. I want to be able to see and find the product I'm looking for; that's my main concern.

Also some very nice builds are difficult to navigate, eg. pretty spiral staircase which doesn't have a railing and I keep walking off it (does this happen to anyone else?).

I am almost 2 years into SL and spend on average 8 to 10 hours a day, 365 days per year, that is a lot of time in SL... a lot of staircases to walk up and down....

and .... I STILL HATE the spiral ones, ESPECIALLY when they have no railing, and even worse is when they are in a no fly zone... TP works soooo well to get out of that shi.... place...

I like stores to be simple, easy to navigate and find items, I like to stand in the center and Cam as far in each direction as possible to shop. Once I'm out of the store I do like to wander about the area, so I'd rather see a simply designed store in a great setting that I might want to visit on it's own.

Thanks! The stairs are actually very shallow (the ground-floor is around 60m in diameter), I just tried with my tiny avatar and it seems to work fine. However, the stairs only go up one floor to an elevator; You can't see in the pictures but I've actually got the teleporter base covered here, as I still don't trust SL's physics to work 100% of the time, even with Havok 4. While the elevator is very robust, lag likes to undo that

I don't recall having seen anyone else do this, but as a suggestion to potentially appeal to both kinds of shoppers ("find it and get out" and "wander around":

If you've got the prims for it, why not make a "just the boxes, ma'am" section (maybe in a simple rectangular building way up in the sky above the main store) with a sign and teleport near the landing point of your main store?

That way, those who are there "just for the product" can get in and make their purchase and get out; those that enjoy wandering around and looking can do that, too.

It has the added bonus that if someone is enjoying just walking around and looking, then decides to go back and get some product they saw earlier... if they are having trouble finding it in the "nice" build, they'd know all they have to do is go back to the landing point, tp to the "box" vending area, and grab it there.

Under the "You can't please all the people all the time" category, I LOVE stairs...particularly spiral ones. I love them RL (spiral stairs) so guess that has carried over to SL. I have lived in two homes in SL with spiral stairs (including my current one) and I love using them even with our built in tp feature.

I don't enjoy flying when I shop unless something is waaaayyy up high and there are a lot of people at "ground level." It just loses the "immersion value" for me. So when I see stairs anyplace in SL, I dutifully climb up and down them.

Just my 2 lindens worth

I prefer stores that have a "look" to them - both in RL an SL. Esp. in the latter where the creativity of the place can tell you a bit about what to expect inside. Look at shopping districts like Tableau, which easily spend as much time with their look and feel as they do with their products.

Mari

I prefer shops with a look. Unless I've seen their stuff already, I'm leery of buying things in a shop that's nothing but floating signs, or one that's got misaligned flashing walls. I want to see some kind of design aesthetic, and if there's hints of a little OCD, well, that's even better.

Please use some sort of railing if your shop is above the flight zone. Who knows what percentage of customers never get a chance to buy something because they didn't have a flight tool on?

So often it seems that stores open with all sorts of *glitz and glam* with the products that inspired them to open in the first place properly showcased for everyone to buy. Later as these stores find themselves hard pressed to compete in such a difficult market they roll out new products and slowly all the *glitz and glam* "decay".

Focus on what you're trying to accomplish, create a plan, and stick to it.

Yay! I am not alone!! I kept wondering whether this happened to other people. Thought it was just me



I don't mind the spiral staircases... they're pretty. Just don't make me walk up on them

For me, the ultimate in interesting shopping experience is Relics/Sanctum Sanctorum. Lovely build, finding stuff can be a black art. And camming around doesn't work that well unless you know the place well, because even if you find what you think you want, figuring out how to get there to sit on the furniture can be tricky, sometimes there's a physical barrier and you can't just sit and instantly be there! But I love it, and the Baron seems to do pretty well

If your store is a shopping experience that slows people down, it can be really helpful to have a full listing of your inventory on SLX or onrez.com for folks who just want to see it all.

Re: spiral stairs -- they're going to be a problem for anyone with frame rates in the single digits. You just can't control your av well enough to navigate them.
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hehe yes you are not alone

I always had trouble navigating stairs (be it spiral or straight) I tend to wander LOL

I like the way they look, very pretty in RL and SL, but just do not like walking on them (helps if there is a railing though)

Some stairs look worse with a railing in my opinion, especially if said railing is an alpha texture on full-prim stairs..just clashes to me.

My way around this, is every set of stairs, or ladder, or whatever else, that I make, I set up short walls on the sides, and make them full-alpha invisible. Makes it possilbe to walk off of them if you're trying, but unless you're aimed right at them, they generally just guide you along the path of the steps.

that is still a railing just an invisible one

I do not care if I can see it or not, just as long as there is something to keep me from blindly walking off the side of the stairs